Property taxes keep rising in Brockton area

While average property tax bills may vary by several thousand dollars from town to town, nearly all are going up, according to an analysis the Department of Revenue recently released.

Staff Reporter

Avon homeowner Leola Green has seen her property tax bill increase by 28 percent in the past three years.

Green, a retired bank worker who pays roughly $4,800 annually in property taxes for her single-family home, cringes when she gets her tax bill.

“Whenever it comes, I just bite the bullet and pay it,” said Green, 69, a mother of four and grandmother of seven. “What are you going to do?”

Three local communities – Avon, Taunton and East Bridgewater – are among eight communities statewide that saw increases of more than 20 percent in their single-family tax bills from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2014. Avon saw a 28.2 percent increase, East Bridgewater, 21.7 percent, and Taunton, 20.3 percent.

Most of those increases are the result of debt exclusion votes, which temporarily increase the levy ceiling. Others, such as Taunton, have been using more of their excess levy capacity, according to the analysis.

While average property tax bills may vary by several thousand dollars from town to town, nearly all are going up, according to an analysis the Department of Revenue recently released.

Since fiscal 2011, the average single-family property tax bill has increased by $507, or 11.2 percent, the DOR found. In fact, the average bill has risen in each of the past 10 years, with a cumulative percentage increase of 40.6 percent.

“I don’t think the bills are increasing at a pace that’s unusual compared to historic increases, but the expectation is communities are going to have fewer resources available and are trying to do more with less,” Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation policy analyst Carolyn Ryan said.

A weak economy and competition for state monies can contribute to higher taxes in a community, but the result is often the same: taxpayers are upset and some question how the government is using their tax dollars, one expert said.

“They get angry. They mistrust government. They feel that their pockets are being picked,” said Michael Kryzanek, executive director of the Minnock Center for International Engagement at Bridgewater State University. “They certainly don’t feel that the government is using their money wisely.”

The tax bill is influenced by several factors, not the least of which is property value. The average single-family property tax bill in Massachusetts is $5,044, while the average home is valued at $357,179, according to Department of Revenue. The average fiscal 2014 rate is $15.19 per $1,000 in assessed value.

The trends have emerged as cities and towns have grappled with rising costs of services and decreases in local aid from the state, said Jeff Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

“Communities are more reliant on the property tax to pay for local services now than any time during the last 30 years. That puts a lot of pressure on the property tax,” he said.

In Easton, Town Assessor Robert Alford said state aid has decreased over the past five years, along with property values. Property taxes help pay for schools, police and fire, and road repairs, he said.

“The same amount has to be raised, whether the value of the town is higher or lower,” Alford said. “As property values decrease, usually the tax rate does increase.”

When values rise, tax rates typically fall, and vice versa, the DOR analysis concluded. There is an exception in places with high numbers of seasonal homes, such as Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

Despite the constraints of Proposition 2½, average tax bills have risen in many years by more than 2.5 percent, even without overrides. Contributing factors could be new growth or the use of excess taxing capacity, the difference between the amount a community is allowed to collect and the amount it actually levies. Although a community’s taxing capacity increases by 2.5 percent each year, many cities and towns keep their rates lower and build up excess capacity. They then may use some of that excess capacity in a future year.